Bardesanes, also called Bardaisan, orBar Daiṣān (born July 11, 154, Edessa, Syria, [now Urfa, Tur.]—died c. 222, Edessa) a leading representative of Syrian Gnosticism. Bardesanes was a pioneer of the Christian faith in Syria who embarked on missionary work after his conversion in 179.

His chief writing, The Dialogue of Destiny, or The Book of the Laws of the Countries, recorded by a disciple, Philip, is the oldest known original composition in Syriac literature. Bardesanes attacked the fatalism of the Greek philosophers after Aristotle (4th century bc), particularly regarding the influence of the stars on human destiny. Mingling Christian influence with Gnostic teaching, he denied the creation of the world, of Satan, and of evil by the supreme God, attributing them to a hierarchy of deities.

Aided by his son Harmonius, Bardesanes wrote many of the first Syriac hymns to popularize his teachings. Their literary value earned for him renown in the history of Syriac poetry and music.

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There was much seriousness and occasionally some pedantry in early dialogues in several literatures. The dialogues of Bardesanes (154–222) in Syriac, rendered into English as On Fate, are on the subject of the laws of the country. A hundred years earlier, Lucian, who was also Syrian, proved himself a master of flowing and ironical Greek prose in his satirical dialogues. The Italian...

...Islam. For some, however, astrology is not an exact science like astronomy but merely indicates trends and directions that can be altered either by divine or by human will. In the interpretation of Bardesanes, a Syrian Christian scholar (154–c. 222)—who has often been identified as a Gnostic (a believer in esoteric salvatory knowledge and the view that matter is evil and spirit...